Flying Adventure | St Barth’s
Gone with the wind
Hurricanes and destroyed aeroplanes
notwithstanding, Lyndon Griffith returns to his
favourite Caribbean island to qualify for his first
solo flight into St Barthelemy Airport
Words and photos Lyndon Griffith
M
y very last glimpse of St
Barthelemy Airport (TFFJ) in
November 2013 was from an
Air France Airbus A340 as
we climbed out of Princess
Juliana on St Maarten, bound for Paris
Charles de Gaulle. It would be a further 12
months or more before I saw that glorious
vista again.
When you are pursuing pleasure flying
in the Caribbean, the hurricane season
72 | Pilot July 2015
from the beginning of June to the end of
November is to be avoided. I had fallen
foul of the weather in the past, so
returning prior to the end of the following
year seemed pointless.
I made the most of what turned out to
be a good flying season in the UK during
2014, albeit after a lengthy delay at the
farm strip following what was
undoubtedly one of the wettest winters on
record. We went from one extreme of
washing off mud to painstakingly
removing a plethora of insects from the
Husky. At least the birds, and dare I say
the sheep, all see us approaching. I also
managed successfully to complete a
formation flying course with the chaps at
Lyneham Flying Club. This was to stand
me in good stead for Caribbean flying,
where decisive actions can be required,
especially when landing at St Barth’s.
I planned to arrive on the island at the
www.pilotweb.aero
beginning of December and informed CFI
Yves Blanchet in good time of my
anticipated itinerary. The Aero Club St
Martin now had a fleet of two Cessna 172s
and a Tomahawk – what could go wrong?
Yves said all would be well and we agreed
a date in early December for the first sortie
to take place.
Call me a pessimist, but my last role
working in aviation was that of an
Emergency Planning Manager and I had
www.pilotweb.aero spent hours trying to convince airport staff
about the importance of ‘What if…’
I always try to ensure I have a
contingency or two up my sleeve; however
even ‘the best laid plans of mice & men’
as they say!
Quite by chance, I called Yves around
11:30 UTC on Tuesday 14th October as I
knew he would be up and taking calls. I
just wanted final confirmation that all
would be well for my arrival. He was at
the airfield at Grand Case surveying a
scene of devastation! Hurricane Gonzalo
had struck during the night. The
Tomahawk was a write off and both of the
Cessnas were damaged. Understandably,
Yves was not up for a protracted
conversation but he said that with spares
from the US, they would have the 172s
repaired and serviceable again soon.
The beach property where I stay, on the
Dutch side of the island, is on the southern
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Flying Adventure | St Barth’s
coast which is susceptible to the vagaries
of the bad weather. I had arrived soon
after Hurricane Oscar had struck the island
back in 2012, and saw some of the
infrastructure damage for myself. So I
went online to research as much news
about Gonzalo as possible, and in
particular its impact on St Maarten.
I e-mailed the owner of the beach villas,
who lives in the USA, to find out what she
knew. Her son was on the island and had
reported that luckily the Dutch side had
not borne the brunt of the storm.
I arrived on Tuesday 2 December and
had arranged to fly on the morning of the
4th once I had acclimatised and adjusted
to the time difference. Yves had advised
me that the Aero Club office had not
survived that October night and that they
were now based inside the terminal
building. The remnants of the former Aero
Club premises were a sad reminder of
what had once been. However, there were
more sights of that night’s devastation still
to come, although the terminal and
permanent buildings all looked as I
remembered them.
There was no
sign of Yves, but
with the assistance
of one of the
Gendarmes and
showing my
passport and pilot’s licence, I managed to
pass through Security and out on to the
ramp. I noticed the EC 145 Eurocopter
M-LUNA there, which I had watched lift
off Roman Abramovich’s yacht Eclipse the
day before, in front of the villa.
I wandered over to where I could see
the Aeroclub aircraft. My mount from past
years, F-OIJC, was there, engine cowlings
removed and signs of work in progress.
The recent addition, F-OIJA, was next to it,
minus both port and starboard ailerons,
but otherwise looking intact.
Looking at the Tomahawk left me lost
for words! The front end and wings looked
fine, but trying to grasp what had
happened to the rear fuselage and tail was
beyond comprehension!
Yves soon returned from Marigot and
apologised as there would be no flying
today. Neither Cessna had flown since
October, but he hoped to have JC airborne
that afternoon and the ailerons from JA
were being repaired and he hoped they
would soon be ready for re-spraying.
I handed him two copies of the May
2014 edition of Pilot Magazine with the
earlier article on my Caribbean exploits.
He had been delighted to see the PDF copy
which I had previously e-mailed, and it
had since been available to view on the
club website. We chatted as he continued
to work on the aircraft. JC had been fitted
with a new engine in January and I asked
when it would be re-painted in the red
livery, like the Tomahawk, which had
been his intention. He looked at the
Tomahawk and said, “We don’t do it in
red now”.
I asked him about the night that the
hurricane swept through. He said it had
originally been estimated that Gonzalo
would miss the island on its northern
track. They had tied down the three
aircraft along the airport ramp’s concrete
drainage channels. He was monitoring the
wind at home via a web connection to the
anemometer on the clubhouse roof. At
midnight, the wind speed was 100 kts and
then the connection was lost –
presumably, he thought, due to loss of
power in parts of the island.
On his arrival the following morning, he
saw the Aero Club office (nee shipping
container) lying on its side in the middle
of the airport car park. It was free parking
all round, as the ticket machine had been
and direct right-hand approach followed
by two left-hand circuits through the high
ground and one further approach from the
south via Coco. All departures have to be
off Runway 10, regardless of the wind.
I had read up on my previous notes and
the left-hand circuit offers no options in
the event of an engine failure in a light
single. It can be a very challenging circuit
as the ground rises around you and you
descend past the three different coloured
rooftops. The final house with the green
roof is passed at between 300-400ft above
aerodrome level and leaves little margin
for error if you intend to land. The wind
was very benign for a change, and it all
felt very easy compared to the memory I
held from a year ago. The fourth landing
was a greaser and even Thomas was
impressed, commenting: “Nice. Very nice.”
We headed back to Grand Case and he
said I should have no problem with Yves
sending me solo if all went well with
Runway 10 landings the following week. I
taxied on to the same marked stand from
where we had departed, and there was
some chatter in
French between
Thomas and his
family in the back
while I concentrated
on the shutdown
checks. I was
wishing to get out into the breeze as it felt
decidedly hot in the cockpit now, but to
my surprise I was asked if I would like to
jump in the back as Laura was about to
fly. She had not previously flown a circuit
on Runway 30 due to the normal
prevailing easterly winds.
I have never met anyone who has been
flown by a 12-year-old and the prospect
was quite exciting to see how such a petite
young lady dealt with this great hobby. It
transpired that Laura had already amassed
15 hours in the left-hand seat and Yves
had managed to get a concession from the
authorities in Paris for her to sit her EASA
ground exams. A cushion was plucked out
of the stowage compartment and the
Lycoming was powered up. It was great to
sit back and enjoy the view of the circuit,
using the Go Pro to capture the moment.
There was a lot of fast French chatter
accompanied by some flamboyant
gesturing. Was Laura looking forward to
following in her brother’s footsteps and
flying commercially, I asked. Non! She
wants to be an engineer!
My next booking was with Yves the
following Tuesday and, prior to departure,
he asked if I could remember all the
procedures for St Barth’s. We went over to
the Tower to file the flight plan and I let
Above: The Club’s Piper Aztec in
a sad state after its encounter
with Hurricane Gonzalo
Remnants of the former Aero Club premises
were a sad reminder of what had been
74 | Pilot July 2015
completely destroyed by the container!
We went back to the office and Yves
checked the bookings for me. A slot for
Saturday afternoon was organised with
Thomas Dubern, who I had enjoyed flying
with several times on previous visits, and
who is now a First Officer flying Twin
Otters with local airline Winair. Yves was
collecting his mother from the inbound
Paris flight at Juliana that day and so was
unavailable. Seeing my expression of slight
dismay he said not to worry – Thomas
was now authorised to sign off students to
fly solo at St Barth’s.
Thomas appeared at the office soon after
me on the Saturday, accompanied by his
mother and 12-year-old sister, Laura. The
latter was a budding young pilot, so I
suggested that all four of us flew over to St
Barth’s. With flight plans filed, we set off
on a lovely afternoon.
On first contact with St Barth’s, we
received the wind and QNH. I was
counting on an easterly of at least 8 knots
to ensure flying some approaches to
Runway 10. It was almost calm! So
landings on Runway 10 were definitely off
today’s agenda.
Oh well, I thought, a refresher on
Runway 28 it would have to be. I decided
on commencing with the straightforward
www.pilotweb.aero
Left: The Tomahawk with its
ruined rear fuselage and tail
curled back on itself
Below left: Thomas Dubern, First
Officer flying Twin Otters for
local airline Winair, with his
mother and his 12-year-old
aviator sister, Laura
Below right: The sad remains of
the original Aero Club office,
bowled across the airfield by
the hurricane winds and
crushing the car park ticket
machine in the process
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Flying Adventure | St Barth’s
him know that I was going to ask the
AFISO to use his direct line to Juliana
Tower on the other side of the island. It
was no secret that I wanted to fly an
approach over Maho Beach at the famous
SXM, but he had been reluctant to make
the flight with me in the past. He gave me
a quizzical look, as did the AFISO. He is
always telling me they do not like General
Aviation, even though he used to fly the
Cheyenne and Cessna 404 in there when
they operated the two aircraft under an
AOC. In truth, mandatory handling makes
it an expensive proposition, but I only
wanted to fly a missed approach… or two.
A friend, a recently retired KLM 747
captain with whom I had had the pleasure
of flying into SXM the previous year, said
there would be no problem. I picked up
the phone and had a great chat with the
controller at the other end who said to
come any day before 10:00, before they
got busy. I gave a ‘thumbs up’ to my two
onlookers who had listened in keenly!
So, off we went to St Barth’s. Yves
informed me that Thomas had reported
back favourably on my last flight. Today,
the wind was 050 deg at 15kts. Fantastic
– we would take Runway 10.
A nice approach and landing followed.
As we backtracked, Yves asked if I would
like to fly solo and I felt like a kid of
seventeen all over again! We pulled over
on the main Apron where local rules
require engine shut down during
disembarkation. We had a brief chat; the
main proviso being that if I could not land
comfortably, I was to return to Grand Case
on my own. I could well appreciate Yves’
thinking – this was not the place for either
heroics or stupidity. I confirmed with him
that I would attempt two approaches and
if I had no joy I would return to St Martin
Clockwise from top left : The winds in the islands can make for some dramatic landing conditions; Grand
Case’s colourful terminal building displaying its alternative name; one of the Twin Otters of the local airline
Winair coming in to land; not many selfies have a passenger jet flying by that close in the background; a
Fly Eastern DC7B starting up at Juliana; bad weather in the region whips up the surf spectacularly
76 | Pilot July 2015
www.pilotweb.aero
The beautiful setting of St Barth’s, with the runway
between the two halves of the island
alone. Yves walked up to the Tower to
listen in and observe.
I started up and talked myself the whole
way round the circuit, especially checking
my height against the visual cues all the
way down the approach from Pain de
Sucre. The landing felt great, albeit
touching down just a few metres past the
Aiming Point markers on the runway. I
was elated and taxied back to the ramp
and shut down.
Yves looked pleased
as he opened the
door to get in. His
faith had been well
placed!
We returned to
Grand Case where I made a pig’s ear of
the touchdown! So I insisted we take off
again so I could demonstrate how to do it
properly. The wind at TFFG is channeled
through the high ground on each side in a
peculiar way and you cannot afford to
relax as I had just done. It was much
better second time around. Phew.
Back in the office, Yves opened up the
computer and asked me to fill in a
document. The required fields to be
completed were, of course, in French. A
Username and Password were required
– but what for?
It became clear that I was now a club
member with access to aircraft bookings
and other useful information. Also that I
was now cleared to fly solo! Yves gave me
an office key and said, ‘Now you can go to
Juliana on your own!’
My next plan was to go online to book
an early morning slot. The Aero Club was
busy with students and there was still only
one aircraft online. Gabriel, who I had met
a few days earlier, had ‘JC’ booked on the
following Saturday from 08:30, for training
with Yves. I e-mailed to see if we could
There is a new road bridge that has
reduced the mileage, but the drive through
Marigot can be painful. At 06:30, as the
dawn was breaking, though, it was a
delight compared to normal. I discovered
that the Terminal was locked until 07:00,
however the security guard kindly let me
in at 06:45 so I could print out the flight
plan and get the aircraft docs and Gen Dec
ready. Gabriel arrived looking a little
bleary eyed, but
excited, and we
passed through
Security as soon as
staff arrived on
duty. I dropped the
plan in to the Tower
and made sure that the AFISO could
appreciate what we hoped to do.
Gabriel had been the last to fly ‘JC’ the
previous afternoon and, having re-fuelled
it, left it so that we could check everything
over and depart promptly. Taxiing out, the
Tower asked our intentions at Juliana. I
was pleased. Juliana must have called him
on the landline once they had received the
Flight Plan. I confirmed our intentions and
assured him that we were not wishing to
land. A minute later he came back with a
Squawk of 0151 and I knew that they were
accepting us!
We departed off Runway 12 and made a
180 degree climbing turn to fly back over
the airfield. Thomas had indicated that this
Yves asked if I would like to fly solo and I
felt like a kid of seventeen all over again!
www.pilotweb.aero reach a compromise to enable me to fly
over to Juliana prior to his flight and,
when I offered to take him along ‘gratis’,
the flight was a done deal. It was going to
be an early start, but it would be good to
have Gabriel along as we could speed up
everything that would need to be done,
such as removing the aircraft covers,
conducting the A Check and mounting the
Go Pros.
On Saturday the alarm was set for 05:30.
I had even asked a friend back in the UK
to call my mobile at 09:30 UTC. It duly
rang as I was silencing my bedside alarm.
I couldn’t believe that I was getting up this
early on holiday, but I was so looking
forward to the flight.
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Flying Adventure | St Barth’s
Above: The approach to Princess Juliana Airport is a
plane spotter’s dream!
Inset: The warning sign applies to the environs of the
runway, but could perhaps equally apply to the beach
Below: The ideal place to relax, breathe in the sea air,
and contemplate an idyllic flying location
manoeuvre was acceptable when I
departed Runway 30 for St Barth’s with
him the previous week.
had thought better of taking my bulky SLR
camera and was trusting that both the
cockpit and wing-mounted Go Pros were
not going to let me down.
The R/T was quiet and, on turning final,
we saw the scheduled early morning
Amerijet Boeing 727 freighter from Miami
was already on the ramp. The beach
looked deserted, which was a pity as I had
hoped there might have been a
photographer or two to capture F-JC on
Yves was surprised that we had actually
succeeded in entering the Juliana airspace
I recognised the woman’s voice in the
Tower as I called Juliana for the inbound
clearance. We were visual as
we passed back overhead
Grand Case. She kindly
approved the initial missed
approach followed by a
right-hand circuit for a
further go around on
Runway 10, and then a left
turn back to Grand Case.
Looking southbound,
the visibility was out of
this world and Gabriel
asked if I minded if he
took photos with his
smart phone. His hands
were darting frenetically
around the cockpit as he
didn’t want to miss that
all-important shot! I
www.pilotweb.aero one of our approaches. Gabriel asked if I
had seen Roman Abramovich’s super
yacht Eclipse. I knew exactly where it was
and made a tight right turn after the initial
approach to give him an eagle’s eye view
of it. The views of the area from the
Cessna at low level were stunning and I
can relive the moment from time to time
by watching the Go Pro footage.
It was a relatively short flight and when
we landed Yves was out to meet us. He
was surprised I think that we had actually
succeeded in entering the Juliana airspace!
Gabriel was hardly able to hide his
excitement and a lively discussion in
French followed. Then they were off to St
Barth’s and I was in need of a coffee and
breakfast!
I managed one further solo flight over to
St Barth’s before it was time to once again
check in for the homeward flights to the
UK via Paris.
Video footage of all the
flights can be found
through a search for
‘Lyndon Griffith’ on
YouTube.
More details can be found at
http://aeroclubsaintmartin.
org/
The solo hourly rate for the
Cessna 172 is 160 Euros and,
at the time of writing, the
exchange rate is becoming
increasingly more favourable
against Sterling. The hire is
good value for money and it
also covers landings at both
Grand Case and St Barth’s.
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